1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to compositions and methods for using these compositions for sealing, repairing, or augmenting rubber dams used in dental procedures. In addition, the present invention has application in isolating tissues or teeth during dental procedures or even for isolating or protecting other tissue by functioning as a bland bandage. More particularly, the present invention relates to specially designed putty caulk and bandage compositions. The putty caulk compositions of the present invention are known to be biocompatible and safe, being sufficiently hydrophilic that the compositions adhere to wet tissue while at the same time being sufficiently elastomeric, durable, and hydrophobic that they resist becoming deformed, deteriorated, or washed away.
2. The Prior Art
Prior art substances, referred to as coating pastes, are used to promote healing of wet tissue by protecting against further irritation resulting from cankers, mouth ulcers or lesions, dental procedures, dental or orthodontic appliances and denture irritation, oral surgery, and other mouth or gum sores.
The coating pastes are useful in coating the irritated area to provide a type of protective barrier for the irritated tissue to prevent further irritation or aggravation. Some coating pastes provide temporary relief and comfort to localized irritations or injuries through the use of local anesthetics.
Oral coating pastes are often applied to tissue whose surface is dynamic. Some currently available coating pastes embrace compositions which are not capable of adequately recovering size and shape after deformation caused by the dynamic nature of the underlying tissue. This is particularly important in conjunction with the use of a coating paste on any body region which extends, bends, or otherwise moves in such a manner that the surface is in some way distorted. While skin and other tissue is capable of being stretched or expanded and thereafter resuming its former shapes, some conventional coating pastes cannot.
Currently available coating pastes have little or no utility in conjunction with the sealing, repairing, or augmenting of rubber dams used in dental procedures. They have been developed as compounds to coat ulcerated or lesioned tissue to provide some comfort and protection against irritation. The prior art coating pastes were not designed to seal, repair, or augment wet and/or dry rubber dams and other dental appliances. To the contrary, the application of currently available coating pastes focuses upon their application to irritated or diseased tissue. What is needed is a compound which adheres to wet and dry rubber dams, dental appliances and other prostheses to aid the dental professional in dental procedures.
Currently available coating pastes lack elastomeric properties essential to a continued conformance to the surface of the tissue to which it is applied. Because the resilience of many types of tissue is not paralleled by resilient coating pastes, the present coating pastes lack the ability to adequately remain in contact with or attached to the tissue when the tissue is stressed or otherwise deformed. In order for the coating paste to be most effective, it is important that the coating paste remain attached to, in contact with, and deform with the tissue, yet still be able to return to its former shape relative to the tissue before deformation.
Because the present coating pastes are not meant to be a permanent application or prostheses, over time they erode, are wiped or scraped off, or are spread by water and saliva. It is, therefore, necessary from time to time to reapply or readminister the coating paste. Because it is not always possible to clean and prepare the tissue for each application of coating paste, it is essential that the protective coating paste be able to bond to itself so that subsequent applications of the coating paste serve as a perpetual seal or barrier providing continuing protection.
While currently available coating pastes tend to retain enough of their natural moisture such that, upon reapplication of the coating paste, the former application readily bonds with the reapplication, reapplication of coating pastes has practical limitations attributable to the characteristics of the compounds themselves. Reapplication or layering of coating pastes is limited by the ability of the coating paste to withstand contact with foreign articles. Coating pastes are subject to ready deterioration of body mass and shape upon contact, thereby suffering alteration and loss of mass and dimension. This is a result of the viscous characteristics of the coating paste compounds. What is needed is a compound whose mass and dimensions are less affected by contact with fluids and foreign articles. This would result in less frequent reapplication because the integrity of the reapplication would not be readily diminished by contact with fluids and other foreign articles. What is needed is a heavier paste which will layer and augment the dimensions of the application without being subject to immediate deterioration.
Furthermore, in some circumstances, it is desirable that the injured or irritated area not be reexposed. It is, therefore, important to have a continual seal or barrier. If the coating paste of reapplication blends into the coating paste of a prior application, a perpetual barrier is formed. This is important to effectuate continued protection or comfort to the user.
In various dental procedures, it is important to have the aid of a compound which adheres equally to hard or soft tissue, as well as wet and dry tissue. The presently available coating pastes are not designed to act as an extension of dental appliances, or to seal, repair or augment rubber dams, and the like, but are designed to shield irritated moist tissue. What is needed is a compound which may be applied to a rubber dam or other object, whether hard or soft, wet or dry, or to any nature of tissue for universal application in dental procedures. Similarly, a dental compound should be equally effective when applied to teeth and bones as it is when applied to gums or mucosal tissue, or to skin or muscle.
In many dental procedures, a variety of different tissues and objects interact and are in close proximity to one another. In some dental procedures it is necessary to form an effective barrier between or seal together two very different types of tissue and materials. The currently available coating pastes are not designed to be a seal or barrier between distinct types of materials such as a rubber dam and a gum or tooth. What is needed is a compound which is equally effective to seal and/or repair rubber dams and other dental appliances without being harmful to adjacent tissue. Such a compound would permit the dental professional to readily apply the compound to areas where dissimilar tissue and objects meet one another, such as tooth, gum, and rubber dam to isolate or seal the area, thereby providing a clean and dry field for the dental procedure.
Similarly, a dental compound should readily attach to dental appliances and prostheses whether metal, plastic, rubber, or ceramic. Particularly in the case of a rubber dam, for example, if a rubber dam is employed to isolate a subject tooth or crown to prevent harmful substances from contacting tooth, crown or gum, or to provide a clean and dry field for the dental procedure, and if the rubber dam is unable to effectively seal the base of the tooth or crown because of gaps or other irregularities in the surface of the tooth or crown, some sort of seal is needed to seal or fill voids between the rubber dam and tooth or crown. Similarly, some sort of seal is needed to seal or fill gaps between any other objects and oral tissue.
It is also not uncommon for a rubber dam to tear or become punctured during the course of dental activities. A repair or sealing compound is needed which adheres to the rubber dam and has sufficient elastomeric properties to effectively repair tears or punctures and permit the dental professional to continue the procedure without having to clean the area, remove the rubber dam, again prepare the tooth or crown to receive a rubber dam, and again apply a rubber dam to isolate or seal the tooth or crown. Such inconvenience presently causes increased time and expense of the procedure. To the contrary, the dental expert with an effective sealing or repair compound could merely apply a hydrophobic, yet sufficiently hydrophilic, resilient caulk to the damaged rubber dam and continue the procedure to conclusion. This ease of repair and convenience is, however, not possible with the currently available coating paste compositions.
One very important property of a dental compound for use in sealing, repairing, or isolating dental tissue, prostheses or appliances during dental procedures is that the compound be capable of affixing itself to the surface of wet or dry tissue, prostheses, or dental object.
Whether mucosal, gingival, pulpal, enamel, epidural, or any other tissue or surface, a dental compound's effectiveness is directly related to its ability to adhere to wet or dry tissue or objects. For example, in order to seal a rubber dam to a gum or a tooth, the affinity of the compound to both types of surfaces dictates its convenient, practical, and effective use. It is, therefore, important that the dental compound or paste adhere equally well to wet, as well as dry, surfaces.
Some cements have been used to provide clean and dry fields for endodontic procedures. One problem with the currently available cements which have been suggested for use in certain sealing procedures around teeth in endodontic procedures is that such cements are designed to chemically set and harden into a firm, cohesive unit, thereby making it difficult to remove it from relatively inaccessible cavities and openings. If the cement sets up hard over time and becomes difficult to remove, this increases extraction, cleanup, and preparation time for the dental or other professional. What is needed is a sealing compound that does not set up hard in the time in which the user is completing his procedure, but remains sufficiently pliable and workable to ensure easy application, reapplication if necessary, extraction or removal when needed.
The surface of the tissue with which the coating paste has contact is often subject to tensile forces of bending, twisting, or expansion. Tension is the death knell to unreinforced compositions causing cracks, fractures, and fragmentation of the integrity of the structure. Therefore, it is important that the coating paste not become brittle or otherwise loose its unitized mass structure and thus be subject to destructive tensile or flexural forces. Brittle compositions have little, if any, tensile strength. As a result, if the coating paste becomes brittle or looses its unitized mass and becomes subject to tensile or flexural forces. It is very important that the coating paste not crumble or deteriorate when subject to tensile or flexural forces.
Similarly, some coating pastes tend to curl at the edges as the coating pastes experiences various dynamic forces. It is important that the integrity of the coating paste's contact with the tissue not be compromised at its boundaries. A weakening or vulnerability of the seal or barrier at the edges lends to increased deterioration or erosion of the overall barrier. What is needed is a dental compound or caulk whose composition permits the compound to be spread to an edge, or even flared or tapered to the surface of the tissue, but whose compositions are not subject to detachment at the boundaries of the application such that the barrier or seal is threatened by pulling away or loosening of the compound from the tissue at the boundaries of the putty caulk application.
A principle feature of an effective putty caulk for sealing, repairing, or isolating dental tissue, prostheses in appliances during dental procedures is that a putty caulk remain in place to protect, seal, or otherwise separate tissue and or other objects. A very significant feature of an effective protective putty caulk is, therefore, that the compositions of the putty caulk be sufficiently hydrophobic so as to resist being washed away by saliva, rinsing or other body fluids shortly after application.
Because the caulk compound may be necessary in a variety of cavities, voids, cracks, holes, tears, and the like, it is important that compound caulk be sufficiently malleable, pliable, and viscous such that the compound be readily shaped, formed, molded, spread, rubbed, injected or otherwise delivered into the required location, shape, or configuration without cumbersome preparation or procedure.
If the user must treat, mix, knead, thicken, or otherwise further prepare the compound for its intended use, the relevant procedures are complicated and their duration lengthened. Similarly, if the compound must be applied in only a certain manner, such as dabbing with a compound rich swab, small, remote or hard-to-reach regions may not be properly serviced by the compound. The effectiveness of the resultant seal or barrier may be directly related to the ability to form, shape, or otherwise deliver the compound to the particular tissue to meet the particular needs of the subject tissue or its surface.
It is, therefore, important that a putty caulk be developed which is capable of readily adapting to various methods of administration and delivery while producing the desired seal or barrier without effecting the convenience of its use or the comfort of the receiving patient or ultimate user.
Another important feature of an effective putty caulk is the ability to apply the putty caulk to the tissue or object notwithstanding the immediate environment. A good example is the necessity of applying the putty caulk while the tissue or object is actually submerged. Many coating pastes are not amenable to administration to submerged tissue. Some sealing cements actually require a dry field before application will be successful. In some circumstances, it may be not only convenient, but necessary, to apply the putty caulk to tissue or articles submerged under water or saliva.
For obvious reasons such as time, cost, convenience, and cleanliness, it is advantageous to repair a leaking rubber dam quickly during the dental procedure rather than be required to stop the procedure, remove the rubber dam, clean the site, place another rubber dam, and then continue with the dental procedure. Instead, it would be much more cost effective for the dental professional and require less treatment time for the patient if the rubber dam can be effectively repaired or plugged so that the procedure may continue relatively uninterrupted in the presence of the various fluids attendant to the procedure at hand.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that what would be needed in the art are improved putty caulk compositions which exhibit elastomeric properties and characteristics which respond resiliently to the dynamic forces exerted upon the putty caulk by the underlying rubber dam, tissue or other object.
It would be further improvement in the art to provide a compositions of putty caulk which will bond and blend to itself to form a perpetually uniform seal or barrier notwithstanding the passage of time.
Additionally, it would be an enhancement in the art for a putty caulk to adhere equally effectively to hard and soft tissue. The interaction or interfacing of different types of tissue require the universal application of the same putty caulk to all types of tissue.
Similarly, it would be an enhancement of the art for a putty caulk to adhere to rubber dams and other dental prostheses, objects, and orthodontic appliances as effectively as it adheres to dry natural tissue. The interaction or interfacing of these artificial objects with naturally occurring tissue require the universal application of the same putty caulk to all types of tissue and metal, plastic, rubber or ceramic materials.
It would also be an enhancement of the art that the putty caulk adhere equally effectively to wet, as well as dry tissue or objects. Because some tissue and objects are not dry by nature and cannot be sufficiently dried before application of a putty caulk, the putty caulk must be sufficiently hydrophilic as to readily attach itself to moist tissue or objects, while simultaneously being sufficiently hydrophobic to resist being washed or rinsed away.
It would furthermore be an advancement in the art to provide a putty caulk that is sufficiently elastomeric which, however, does not set up so hard over time that it is difficult to efficiently and economically clean, remove or replace.
Similarly, it would be an improvement in the art to provide a putty caulk which does not crumble under the normal tensile forces exerted upon the putty caulk over time by the underlying rubber dam, tissue or other object.
It would be a significant improvement in the art to provide a putty caulk which does not curl or otherwise deform over time within its mass or at its boundaries but remains in contact with the underlying tissue or object to maintain the integrity of the seal or barrier at it borders.
It would, in addition, be an improvement in the art to provide a putty caulk which in conjunction with its elastomeric characteristics and properties is also sufficiently malleable, pliable, and has sufficiently high viscosity and working properties to permit the user to shape, form, mold, spread, rub, dab, inject, or otherwise deliver the putty caulk to the subject region in a form suitable to create an effective seal or barrier.
It would be an improvement in the art to provide compositions of putty caulk and methods for successfully applying said putty caulk to submerged or inundated tissue or objects.
The foregoing, and other features and objects of the present invention are realized in the compositions and methods for sealing or repairing rubber dam and other dental implements, or for protecting irritated tissue with a bland bandage.